Analytical Tools for Studies of the Genomics of Isolation between Plant Taxa

University Of Wyoming, Laramie WY

Investigators

Abstract

Genes are limited in their tendency to move between hybridizing plant species by their effects on plant traits and their interaction with a foreign genetic background. This project will result in statistical tools and software for uncovering the genetic basis of isolation between plant taxa and in the application of these tools to plants of economic importance. Hybridization in sunflowers and cottonwoods (Populus) will serve as tests of the methods and software. The application of these tools to sunflowers will result in the identification of genetic and phenotypic components of isolation between crop plants and wild sunflowers. For example, genes that are closely associated with traits of domesticated plants (e.g., loss of seed dormancy) are expected to move into the gene pool of wild sunflowers at a reduced rate relative to genes that are not closely associated with domestication traits. In the case of the common hybridization between species of cottonwoods (Populus), these tools will identify genomic regions that contribute to isolation in multiple pairs of species and among geographic locations at which species meet and hybridize. Hybridization is likely to continue to play a significant role in the generation and improvement of Populus cultivars. An understanding of which portions of the genome move easily across species boundaries, and from cultivars to wild relatives, will be an important consideration in future breeding efforts. Research groups currently studying these taxa will cooperate in the development by providing user feedback and diverse datasets. In the process of developing these research tools, several graduate and postdoctoral students will receive significant training in computational biology. The sharing of ideas between developers and users will be facilitated by significant exchanges of personnel. The resulting software, written in R, will be broadly disseminated for use by plant biologists who work with hybridizing taxa (available from http://www.uwyo.edu/buerkle/software), and archived on a global network (CRAN http://cran.us.r-project.org). Release and updates will be announced through an R a mailing list.